Borrowing from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s emphasis on “inclusive growth”, Banerjee said that the “Railways must set an example to promote “inclusiveness” in their functioning keeping the needs of all sections of “our fellow countrymen in our thoughts, decisions and deeds”. She even announced the setting up of an Expert Committee to advise her on “innovative financing and implementation of the so called economically unviable but socially desired projects”. She added that her ministry will identify places that have not seen any infrastructure development she will prepare a blueprint of how many such schemes can be implemented in the coming five years.

But before she embarks on this plan, Banerjee would do well to examine a list of over 250 railway projects that have been pending for years, mostly because of being economically unviable. Many of these projects, announced for social or political considerations, have been languishing in Railway files for decades. Rail Bhavan officials admit that the fact that most of these projects have a negative rate of return is the primary factor behind them not taking off. Railway norms prescribe a positive rate of return of 14 percent before a project is started.

Her plan, however, may be hamstrung by the fact that her ministry is struggling to sustain revenues since the past few months, has been forced to curtail freight targets for the current fiscal, and is staring at much lower cash surpluses and net revenues for the fiscal, largely because of the Rs 14,600 crore it has to shell out to implement the Sixth Pay Commission and the overall economic slowdown.

... contd.